Ship's Log .... Andy's Footnote

Castanet is now safely back on her home berth and after a couple of hours cleaning is looking rather splendid - she scrubs up quite well really! At one point this week I thought we would have to rename her 'Muddy Paws' as, much as Bustaaar enjoyed his walks through the sand dunes and across the common in Bembridge, the once-white deck of the boat took on a slightly more earthly colour. Not only this but the sand, as it does, got EVERYWHERE - it felt like we were sleeping in a sandpit! So a trip to the marina launderette accompanied the boat cleaning and to finish a shave and a shower (for me that is, not Angela!) so we're all looking and feeling like new (apart from the aching muscles, arms, legs and back from all that cleaning .... sorry Angela, but you did a great job!)

We dined aboard for our final evening of the cruise (big thumbs up for Angela, she's a great ship's chef) and we sit, as I type, watching the sun set on another hot and sunny day, so while the wind may have put paid to our plans to cruise along the south coast, the sunshine has not let us down (much better than being calm, grey and wet).

I usually provide a summary of our trip and will do so here, though the figures are somewhat less impressive than previous excursions. We travelled a total of 116 nautical miles, which is about 133 statute miles, cruising for about 10 hours. Anyone who can do simple maths can work out this averages 13mph which, to say the least, isn't very fast! This does include a fair bit of time cruising at 6 knots (nautical miles per hour so about 7mph), entering and leaving rivers and harbours, and then time with the engine running while we moor up and cast off is also counted which is why it looks so low. Castanet will cruise quite happily at around 20 knots (23mph) though we did hit 31.1 knots (36mph) on a stretch of smooth, flat water. Of course actual speed can be measured as either speed through water, which is usually shown on a speedometer fitted to the boat (we don't have one!), or speed over ground, which is shown on the GPS or Chart Plotter ["Uh Oh" says Angela, "I can feel one of Andy's lectures coming on ..."!!]. Unlike a road, water is always moving so if you're going WITH the current your 'speed over ground' will be higher, AGAINST the current it will be slower, but your speed through water will remain the same, so to get a true speed you need to .... "Andy, shut up" .... but I haven't finished explaining yet, nor had chance to talk about anchors ... "SHUT UP" .... oh, OK.

Until next time ....

...homeward bound!

I forgot to mention, the other day Capt Cook took the chart plotter apart and fixed it so he was happy and we are fully functional again...



...nothing exciting to report for Saturday, we took the dog for a walk along the seafront to Baywatch Cafe for lunch (Andy had a bacon and brie baguette, I had smoked haddock fish cakes and Bustaaar had the little dog who tried to sniff his bottom!) It was a gloriously hot afternoon so we relaxed on the boat, reading and sunbathing...the marina (Duvers) was as predicted very busy, and we watched and listened to the new comers arriving and were reassured that actually we're pretty good 'sailors!

In the evening we made a round trip using the river taxi from our 'front door' (stern diving platform to be precise) to Bembridge village and had supper at the Pilot Boat Inn, a pub which has had the facia made to look like a ship.



We were rudely awoken at 6am this morning by the carbon monoxide detector fluffing beeping (can't he buy anything that doesn't beep?), Andy shot out of bed like is backside was on fire, opened all the hatches and portholes to let out the noxious fumes and some fresh sea air in, my priority was different though, switch that bloody annoying beeping thing off, NOW! anyway, Andy did both within 2 mins and established that the fumes were coming from the rib moored behind us, for some reason they thought it was ok to run the two 250 hp V6 engines for 10 minutes before they set off, grrrrrr...these were the same guys who woke us up at midnight 'talking' loudly whilst they were fumbling around trying to find their sleeping bags by torchlight, I mean, 4 fully grown men sleeping in a rib, how does that work? Maybe it doesn't  that's why they were off so early?


I was fully awake by then and ordered coffee from room service who said 'really? you're not going back to sleep?' of course not, once I'm awake I'm awake...so when I awoke at 10 the marina was mayhem, where did all those noisy kids come from? there were millions of them!...Columbus and I had a quick discussion (over the now reheated coffee, I was still in bed) and we decided to leave Bembridge and circumnavigate the...island...and, at lightening speed, we closed up and were underway within the hour (I didn't even have time to brush my teeth!)..Many thanks to Gordon (the Harbour Master), Zac (The Poser) and all the guys at the marina who were helpful and friendly and made our stay a joyful one, we will see you again next season!


The journey around the east coast of the island was calm, quiet, sunny and warm, ideal conditions for a cruise.  I said it was nice without the traffic but Andy misheard and though I had said fabric and was referring to the sail boats, he loved this and has decided that's what he is going to call them from now on.

As usual the Solent was quite busy but we made it home safe without any problems and so we are back on our nice and quite mooring, there was no-one else in the immediate vicinity, Blue C came back late in the afternoon but her owner has washed her down and gone home so its just us and the seagulls...Bustaaar has gone to sleep, I have ordered some dresses to arrive at the marina before we head out to Dartmoor on Tuesday, come on you didn't think I could really last with so few clothes did you? and Andy is doing man things...


...tomorrow we will clean the boat and pack the car and that will be the end of our first nautical holiday, not quite as planned but sometimes its best to just go with the flo and keep your plans fluid!...so I shall sign off now (we won't be blogging next weeks sojourn) I'm sure Andy will have a footnote to pen but until then here are some pics from today...

Friday: Busy doing nothing....

...Capt Cook has made another decision, we will stay in Bembridge for the weekend then head back to Southampton on Monday, clean down the boat then head directly to Dartmoor, in the car, for a couple of days stay at a dog friendly hotel...

It is now 8:30 on Saturday morning, Bustaaar and Andy are having a post walk snooze, awwww!

Not much to report for Friday I'm afraid, we went into the village by harbour taxi to buy provisions for the picnic on the beach, it was very hot and sunny 😎

The beach has moved it is twice as far away as it was on Thursday and took foreverrrrrr to get there, however we arrived eventually and set up camp in the shade and Bustaaar and me stripped to our swimwear and got into the sea....

I had intended to go for a little swim but the ground was very stoney and the water murky so I stayed at knee height, we played with Bustaaar's new ball until he got bored and walked off, then we had our picnic.  I tried unsuccessfully to sit on the 'deck' chair and was left stranded like a sheep on my back with my limbs flaying, after Andy had stopped laughing he came to my rescue, unfortunately this episode has not been filmed but you can imagine!

We didn't stay long on the beach, it doesn't feel quite right without children..

Nothing much else to report, Andy has taken up reading a book so my lectures seem to have been put on hold...we heard but didn't see the fireworks at Cowes...despite the harbour crew saying there will be a lot of boats and people arriving, it wasn't that bad but amusing to listen to the mayhem of docking as bystanders.

Not planning to do much today either, although Andy has said he wants to get his anchor out and will take the opportunity to do a lecture on the subject, oh joy!...

What's that awful smell?...

...is it the chemical toilet? is it the seaweed? is there a landfill site near by?...nope it's ME!


I put it off for as long as I could but the seagulls were starting to circle above me so I drew a deep breath and head down stomped purposely for the shower block!...


Andy had given comprehensive instructions on the layout (did he use the ladies?) and how to operate the shower (you can imagine) leaving one small detail out, the door code! not to worry, the door was wedged open...my shower rating for Brembridge Harbour facilities is 9 out of ten.  They are clean and functional, have not only a shower tidy for all your bits and pieces but also a grab rail which is essential for those like me who suffer from land wobble. The point loss is for the shower grout which could do with a comprehensive scrub and the unavailability of tissues/paper hand towels and the shower type which (although my worst fears of the water not being hot enough for me were unfounded) was a fixed mounting with a push button timed water jet, not a problem but I prefer to have more control...


If I may digress for a moment, there were 2 events yesterday that I omitted to mention, firstly the road of large house boats, some tastefully done others not so, they were interesting and gave pause for thought...and...The Incident with the Swans...a little background: I bought Bustaaar some Bakers dried dog food as a special treat, for those who are not familiar with this product they promote the 'real meat chunks' and any normal dog would eat these and leave the veg/cereal, not Bustaaar, he picks them out and leaves them! occasionally he will eat one just to check but mostly he eats round them...now Andy who has an aversion to leftovers was not at all impressed with my suggestion of saving the meaty bits and giving them to either Bobby or Chezzie (our kids dogs) so he sat on the back of the boat and threw them to the seagulls (that's a whole other conversation which I won't go into now), yep, good one, now we are surrounded by what looks like loads of little poos, that's not embarrassing at all! So the seagulls duly arrive and take the tasty morsels and I have turned my back on them whilst telling Andy to stop it, then all of a sudden Bustaaar goes crazy jumping and barking and trying to get past me and I turn round to be greeted by THREE massive Swans hissing and trying to get on the boat, more F*"£$%&^*&*(*(*&%£££"£%^^$$**&%^$£" and screeching and running away whilst trying to drag Bustaaar...apparently it was very funny and I don't need to be "such a drama queen" about it, that's easy for him to say it wasn't him the T-Rex sized birds were trying to eat!


...Anyway, today was relaxed, we didn't have the picnic on the beach but we did go for a walk and had an ice lolly. I made Andy walk further than he wanted but it was worth it because the end of the beach was deserted apart from a couple with a Jack Russell who was playing catch in the sea, Bustaaar wanted to join in so when we were a safe distance from them I went in the sea up to my shorts and held his lead while Andy threw stones into the sea for him to fetch.  He was completely baffled by them disappearing but loved swimming, we could have stayed for hours doing this but Andy got bored...I did some bare foot rock climbing much to Andy's terror and I found a log and rope swing hanging from a tree which I tried to mount, a similar experience to that of Granny trying to mount a lilo really, I couldn't get on and so abandoned the idea as Andy did not want to help me, boo...I don't think I'll take up horse riding...

...we had a Chinese (meal) delivered to the boat this evening, Andy only agreed to order it on condition that I did not save ANY leftovers (the fridge is the size of a lunchbox - and is already full of...leftovers!), so I agreed as long as I could feed them to the dog, the food was delicious eaten in the sunshine and light breeze and all three of us enjoyed it...(I have salvaged an unopened special fried rice to have tomorrow, shhhhhh keep it a secret)...

...most of the boats/yachts have gone during the day and the Harbour Master said that he would move us to a quieter spot tomorrow if we want to, so we probably will for as much as Andy enjoys chatting to the passers by, helping them dock and just people watching he doesn't want to be observed himself (so that's why he's been acting like a Russian spy, 'take your sunglasses off you look like a twit'!) so that will be tomorrows exciting installment to look forward to...

Bustaaar and me climbing on the rocks ....

..... and on the path with Castanet in the background!

The wind of change...

Today (Wednesday) Columbus announced we were heading out to discover new territory...Bembridge!

I had an early lecture today so early in fact that I was still in bed (berth), today's subject was waves, oh maaaan, you have no idea how many different types there are and how they are formed etc etc, I may need to do a refresher on this module though as there is no point in trying to teach me anything before my brain has woken up! However, this was the only lecture today as we had important sailing to do...

Bill and Robin weren't too hungover today so after a shower, a couple of cups of coffee and chain smoking for half an hour they we're ready to go off into town and do it all again!  It turns out that they are near neighbours of ours at Shamrock Quay so they may become our new best buddies!...they detached themselves from our boat and we waved them off as they went in search of fuel...

We had a quick chat with the nice charter boys (probably the same age as us, just skinnier) on the yacht behind us, Andy wants an electronic diving platform like theres, they watched me cast off  like a true professional and also waved us on our way...

We set off at noon to get into Bembridge, which is on the opposite side of the island (Isle of Wight), between 2 & 5pm as this is a tidal harbour, but I can't tell you why because my lecture on tides and how they are affected by the moon and the sun (yeah right, next you'll be telling me there are leprechauns at the ends of rainbows and buying tickets to Glastonbury!) isn't until tomorrow...

The water was calm and the wind had dropped, there wasn't much sun today but it was warm, so it was a pleasant crossing (journey!), we stopped a couple of times for Andy to take pictures of boats and me of seagulls and have a quick bite of lunch, we also went on a bit of a detour because Andy spotted a new yacht which "flies above the sea's surface" (yes Andy, of course it does, it's magic like those other things you mentioned earlier - maybe I shouldn't have given him the dogs travel pills afterall) and guess what, it just happens to be sponsored by Land Rover...

(Andy's Note:  This isn't it!)

Bembridge beach (which I intend to have a picnic on tomorrow) had just come into view when disaster struck...dun dun durrrrrrrh....the f*#%$€¥* ~#{>^%*$€+¥*ing chart plotter (sat nav for boats, just pictures of land beneath the sea though no annoying talking woman) stopped working! OMG! would we be stranded in the sea forever, will we have to mayday mayday mayday (you have to say everything 3 times on the radio, must be because all the harbour masters are old and can't hear you the first 2 times) for sea helicopter rescue???...no Andy, just calm down and stop shouting, why don't you go old Skool and use the maps (charts!), which of course he can do because he's done at least 3 courses...so we get into harbour safely (Bustaaar and I kept a low profile at the back of the boat, best to keep a distance from agrivated Bears), phew! And what a beautiful place it is, quiet and set in sand dunes/common...

After such an eventful morning I though we could have a gentle stroll across the causeway into town, which we did, but the town wasn't where I thought it was and we ended up walking for hours and hours, well maybe only one hour to reach a pub for a pint (Andy has no idea why he always falls for my "it's not very far" protestations, oops)....we got a taxi back!...

We have a prime mooring on the final 200 meters of pontoon, close to the harbour ferry.  The harbour is very busy so we have a lot of people traffic passing us, no topless sunbathing tomorrow 8-)

St Tropez (aka Yarmouth)...

Well what a busy day that turned out to be, first we sunbathed on the foredeck, then we sunbathed in the cockpit (wtf?) then we converted the seating so we had a sun pad! I read my book and did some of my grown up dot to dot book pics (when you google this to find out about it please don't put in 'adult' that's a whole different thing that I didn't want to find out about!)...

We had quiche and salad for lunch,  custard creams with afternoon tea and a pub supper...

Being Cowes week there is a lot of nautical activity around the island so the harbours are pretty full, we have new neighbours today, brothers Bill and Robin (similar age to Andy and myself) who have clearly got a pass out for the week from the wives and are spending a lot of time in town drinking and, well I dread to think what else.  Bill has taken a bit of a shine to me, yet another reason to lock the tankinis away!..despite Andy's initial apprehension about the number of people moored here, by the time I woke up this morning he had decided he really liked the place. Today he has been busy doing man things, tying ropes and attaching fenders and polishing the boat and other exciting stuff...he gave me a quick refresher course on knots and a lecture on Ensign flags, who knew there was so much to learn on the subject, I'm not sure if I'll be taking an exam at the end of the holiday or whether I get a certificate...

I didn't have a shower today as it was too complicated and stressful..something about buying tokens for 6 minutes use and the meter is OUTSIDE the shower room and you can only put in one token at a time, I'm not sure Yarmouth was ready for a soapy naked Andy wearing a shower cap putting tokens into a meter in the car park this morning but maybe he'll make the front page of the local newspaper and become a local celebrity?

Not sure what our plans are for tomorrow yet, it got quite chilly earlier when the wind picked up (oh yeah, I had a lecture on wind speeds and weather definitions earlier too) so we'll make a decision in the morning..


Here is Bustaaar and me on a phenomenal bench...

...and we're off....and now we're back....

If Andy and Emily get together to organise a holiday I'll be booking myself onto the Lord Lucan 2 week getaway break!


It's 10am and Andy has been up since 6 and, unlike yesterday's more sedate mode, he's like a primary school child at a birthday party....I have just woken up and am in the slow, calm and relaxed state... I may have to send him on a treasure hunt into town to get a bit of peace!  [Andy's Note:  Close friends and family will know what I mean when I say Angela is NOT good in the morning!  'Calm' and 'relaxed' are two words I would NOT use to describe her mood at this time!].


So, yesterday...as they say, what can I say!...usual start, jet wash shower, full English breakfast made Keith Floyd style in the on board kitchen (galley!)...set off on time at 2, here's some pictures...

...out into the Solent, a bit rough but Captain Pugwash reassures us it will be much smoother once we get out into open seas, then all hell breaks loose...I have discovered that the holes in the table are not cup holders but actually grab handles, Bustaaar has invented a new Olympic sport "deck skating" if only I could have got down below to put the radio on! And I had the obligatory ice bucket challenge, I'm packing the tankinis away, everytime I wear them I get soaked!...I'm sure I saw Ant and Dec in the harbour...

...I'M A GRANNY GET ME OUT OF HERE!...

I was reminded of the horrendous crossing from Plymouth to Roscough on New Year's Eve 1991, seven months pregnant and in a force 13 gale (or something like that)...and the hours of batterings in the RIBS when you at least were secured and not sliding around the seats like the Waltzers at the fair..I did turn green for a while and checked out the best place to be sick without falling over board...we hit one enormous wave so hard I am now 4' 6", Andy is going to put me in the medieval rack when we get home...


...surely we must be nearly there now, we've been doing this for hours, is that Weymouth? What do you mean no it's the Isle of Wight?...


...anyways, once we had moored up and lazed in the sun with a cup of tea all was forgotten and we went into town and discovered a quaint guest house that serves homemade food where Andy had the best looking steak I've seen in a long time and I had a delicious macaroni cheese.


...I am a bit tired as I run around the boat untying ropes and getting fenders in, then reversing the procedure at the other end of the journey, I 'walked' 20,000+ steps yesterday according to ifit, the aching muscles have calmed down a bit now though...Andy says he's exhausted, it is so hard steering the boat sitting down!


It's now 10.30 and he's having a beer (hopefully this will calm him down a little, if not I'm going to spike his lunch wth the dogs 'serene eez' tablets) I've sent him to make me a coffee so we should converge soon...off now, got lots of sunbathing to do....